Washington: Louisiana governor Piyush "Bobby" Jindal on Wednesday jumped into the 2016 White House race with a twitter message making him the first Indian-American and 13th Republican candidate to do so.

"I'm running for President of the United States of America. Join me: http://www.bobbyjindal.com/announcement," he tweeted shortly after noon ahead of a planned formal announcement in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner Wednesday evening.

"A Special Announcement From Bobby Jindal. My name is Bobby Jindal, and I am running for President of the United States of America. There were three people I think you would agree my wife Supriya and I had to tell first," said a second tweet.

Jindal's tweet came shortly adviser Curt Anderson told reporters at a morning briefing: "We get into the race at 5 o'clock tonight."

A hidden-camera style video of the governor telling his kids about his decision to run followed.

His daughter quickly leveraged the information, requesting a puppy as her share of the deal.

"OK, if we move into the White House, you can have a puppy," Jindal told his daughter.

(IANS)